Air-heating fireplace grate



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 A. L. REILLY AIR-HEATING FIREPLAC'E GRATE Sept. 26,1961 Filed Feb. 7, 1958 INVENTOR ARTHUR I .REILLY Sept. 26, 1961 A. l..REILLY AIR-HEATING FIREPLACE GRATE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 7, 1958INVENTOR ARTHUR L REILLY Attorneys Unite States This invention relatesto fireplace grates, and has for its general object the provision of agrate which gives to a fireplace a space-heating efiiciency considerablyhigher than is ordinarily obtained. The invention more particularly aimsto provide a heat-exchanging fireplace grate having built-in -means bywhich air can be drawn from within the room, forcefully conducted aboutthe perimeter of the grate along a given path of travel and in coursethereof subjected to intense heat from a fire burning on the grate, andreturned as a heated column of air to the room.

As a further particular object the invention purposes to provide afireplace grate in which a confined column of air heated by exchangefrom a re burning on the grate can be delivered at will to selectedareas of the room.

The invention has the yet additional particular object of providing afireplace grate of the nature described incorporating, as an integralpart of the grate, a heating pipe through which said column of air ispassed.

` A still further particular object of the invention is to provide afireplace grate of the nature described intended in normal use to employan electric-powered blower as a means of drawing air from within theroom and forcefully feeding the same through the heating pipe, but whichis so engineered that the same can, if desired, depend upon naturalthermal circulation to induce a substantial movement of air through theheating pipe.

With the foregoing objects and advantages in view, and additionallyaiming to provide a fireplace grate of simple, inexpensive and ruggedconstruction, and one which adapts itself to various sizes and shapes offireplaces with no need for special construction to accommodate the oneto the other, the invention consists in the novel construction and inthe adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described andclaimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary top plan view illustrating a fireplace grateconstructed in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, shownapplied to a fireplace which is represented fragmentarily in horizontalsection.

FIG. 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view drawn on line 2-2 of FIG.l.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view drawn to an enlargedscale on line 3 3 of FIG. 2 and incorporating a phantom illustration ofa fire burning upon the grate.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged-scale sectional view detailing thedelivery nozzle which is provided for the grates heating pipe.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view portraying anotherembodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a transverse vertical sectional view drawn on line 6-6 of FIG.5.

With reference to said drawings, and first describing the embodimentshown in FIGS. l through 4, inclusive, the numeral 10 represents a basicgrate frame illustrated as being fabricated from five lengths of steelrod designated by 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. Rod 11 extends transverselyacross the front in the manner of a Stringer and has each of its tWoends turned downwardly to produce a respective leg 16. Each end portionof the stringer, immediately adjacent to said legs, is also bent so asto produce a stirrup-like seat, as and 21. The rod proper atent ice andthe seat and leg at each end are or may be coeplanar.

The four rods 12, 13, 14 and 15 aredisposed longitudinally, being spacedmore or less uniformly at intervals of the Width of the Stringer. Theselongitudinal rods have their front portions shouldering upon theStringer, and extend rearwardly therefrom as rails 2-2 to produce afloor for the grate. To the immediate front of the stringer each saidlongitudinal rod has an upturned end 24 serving the function of a guardpaling, and at the rear of the grate two of the rods present downturnedends 23 producing back legs for the grate while the other two areupturned to form rear guard palings 25. The legs 16 are appreciablylonger than the legs 23, thus causing the rails to slope downwardly fromthe front toward the rear. The stock employed for said several rodsdesirably has a diamond shape in section, placed so that a diameterprojected across the points is vertically disposed and by such tokenexposing a sharp edge on which the: fuel, designated by F, rests.

The present grate incorporates a heater pipe having as `its function topick up heat from burning fuel and transfer the same to a column of airmoving through the pipe. Designated generally by 26, the pipe iscomposed by preference of black iron and has a fairly large diameter,say 11/2l I.D. Considered in top plan, the pipe has a U-shapedconfiguration. The cross-arm 27 of the U rests in the crotch formedbetween the rail and paling sections 22-25 of the rods 13 and 14, andthe side-arms 28 and 29 of the =U lodge in the stirrups 2t) and 21.Welding is employed to secure the heating pipe and the several rods 11,12, 13, 14 and 15 as an. integrated unit.

The length of the two side-arms 28 and 29 is such that the same projectforwardly beyond the grate frame. Upon the front end of one of theseside-arms 28 there -is fitted a nozzle tip 30 formed upon its inner endwith the male component 31 of a ball universal joint. The femalecomponent 32 threads onto the pipe, permitting the nozzle to be set atselected angularities within a permitted range of movement by drawingthe ball 31 against a tensioning ring 33.

The other side-arm 29 of the heating pipe 26 connects by its front endwith a laterally extending pipe section 34 leading from anelectric-powdered blower 35.

As shown by the arrows in FIG. l, air is drawn from within the room andfed by the blower through the heater pipe 26 to be forcefully returnedto the room through the nozzle 31. Such nozzle may be set, in the mannerdescribed, to direct the discharged column of air to substantially anydesired part of the room.

A fire burning upon the grate concentrates heat upon the cross-arm 27and proximal portions of the two sidearms 28 and 29 of the heater pipe,bringing the same to a condition of red heat evenwith a fire of onlymoderate intensity. The air column forced through the pipe iseffectively heated so that the normally low efficiency of the fireplace,considered as a space heater, is very considerably enhanced. There isthe additional advantage that blower-impelled warm air can be directedat will into selected areas of the room.

In FIGS. 5 and 6 I have illustrated an embodiment of the invention whichpeculiarly lends itself to use in a fireplace installation where thereis provided a raised hearth 40, and having a subjacent pit 41 connectingwith the interior of the room by a grilled door 42. The grate frame hereemployed is or may be identical with that previously described, but theU-shaped heating pipe, designated generally by 43, presents within thelength of its cross-arm 45 a downturned sleeve section 46. This sleevesection finds a free slip fit upon the exposed upper end of anair-supply conduit 47 which extends through the floor of the fireplaceand connects by its lower end 3 with a blower 48 installed in the pit41. The two sidearms 50 and 51 of the heater pipe are each iitted attheir front ends with air-directing heads 52 like or similar to thenozzle heads 30-31.

The arrangement of FIGS. 5 and 6 can, if desired, be used to advantageWithout a blower, drawing a very con siderable volume of air from thepit and discharging the same by natural thermal circulation through bothsidearms of the heater pipe. The upward slope of these s-idearmsperforce contributes toi the self-circulation of air.

The invention, and the manner of its operation, should be clearlyunderstood from the foregoing detailed description of the illustratedembodiments. Changes in the details of construction can perforce beresorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention and it isaccordingly my intention that no limitations be implied and that thehereto annexed claims be given the broadest interpretation to which theemployed language fairly admits.

What I claim is:

In a iireplace grate, a grate frame fabricated from rod stock, one ofsaid rods extending as a transverse Stringer across the front of thegrate and having the two ends downturned to provide footing legs, othersof said rods extending longitudinally as rails in spaced parallelingrelationto one another with the front portion shouldering on saidStringer and having the rear end of at least one of said rails bentdownwardly to form a footing leg, said Stringer being formed to presenta stirrup-shaped seat of substantial depth adjacent each of said legs,and a heatexchange pipe having a U-shape in plan configuration seatingby the cross-arm of the U upon the rails at the rear ends of the latterand by the side arms of the -U upon said Stringer adjacent the sidelimits of the stringer, said Stringer, rails and pipe being integrallyjoined, means being provided for passing air through said pipe, saidside arms of the heat-exchange pipe being received in saidstirrup-shaped seats, at least one of said rails occurring at each ofthe opposite sides of the longitudinal median line of the grate havingits rear end turned upwardly to produce a guard paling, the cross-arm ofthe pipe seating in the crotch defined between the upturned palings andthe horizontal sections of the rails from which said palings stern, theupper surfaces of said longitudinally eX- tending rods occupying a planethroughout their length sloping downwardly toward -the rear so .thatlogs resting upon said rods as the same are being burned upon the gratewill tend to gravitate toward said cross-arm of the U-shaped pipe, theplane occupied by the upper surfaces of the side arms of the U-shapedpipe being substantially above the plane of said surfaces on which thelogs rest, at least in the area adjacent said cross-arm, to provide endwalls resisting lateral shiftingof the logs being burned.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D.160,686 Bergeron Oct. 31,1950 333,382 Belding Dec. 29, 1885 2,600,753Gilbert June 17, 1952 2,828,078 Snodgrass Mar. 25, 1958 FonErGN PATENTS119,326 Great Britain Oct. 3, 1918 179,812 Great Britain May 18, 1922556,543 Great Britain Oct. 8, 1943

